Page 66 - All About History - Issue 27-15

HE & ES

VILL INS

Ronnie

Biggs

Train robber, fugitive, celebrity; this infamous

character helped pull off one of the most
audacious crimes in history

Written by David Crookes

onnieBiggswaslyingonarailway cash were uncoupled from the rest of the train.
embankment at Bridego Bridge, less than Ronald ‘Buster’ Edwards and Douglas Goody
halfamilefromLeightonBuzzard,beside boarded the cab with another gang member.
themainlinefromGlasgowtoLondon.He DriverJackMillswascoshedontheheadand, Before
R waswith15othergangmembers,waiting falling, struck his skull against the cab wall. But he left to rob
forthe3amtrainknowingthatoneofthecoaches Biggs’s train driver took too long to get the train
carriedanenticingsecret:dozensofbagsfullof moving to the markers that had been laid; Mills thetrain,Biggstold
cash.Itwas8August1963,andthemenfancied was forced to do the job instead. With the carriage wife Charmian he was
theirchancesofstealingthelot. in position, the gang formed a human train, passing
Biggshadbeeninvitedtojointhegangby sackaftersackofcashuptheembankmenttowards going to be felling
Bruce Reynolds, a criminal who had meticulously a waiting truck. The bags contained £2,631,784 in £1 treesinWiltshire
preparedeverydetailforsuchaheist.Biggshad and £5 notes, the equivalent of £50 million today.
fulfilled his role of recruiting the train driver – an Biggsendedupwith£147,000(£2,806,706)forhis
elderly former British Rail worker whose house he part,andsuddenlyhewasaveryrichman.
hadbeenfixingup.Inreturn,hewasguaranteeda Ronald Arthur Biggs was born in Stockwell,
minimum £40,000 share, today worth £763,728. London,on8August1929toHenryBiggsand
Asthetrainapproached,theplanswunginto Lillian Clayton. He had three brothers – Jack,
action. The gantry lights switched to amber and VictorandTerrance–andasister,Iris.Hismother
redontheapproachtoSearsCrossingandthe died in 1943, aged 53, from a duodenal ulcer, and
train came to a halt. Fireman David Whitby left his hissubsequentyearswerespentinandoutof
cabtoinvestigate,butwasbundledawaybygang courtrooms – his first appearance in 1945 on a
members.Thelocomotiveandcoachcarryingthe charge of shoplifting from a Littlewoods retail store.
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